


Broken programming

by Child_of_the_Fae



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Origin Story, the galra created the Gems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-17 01:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10583280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Child_of_the_Fae/pseuds/Child_of_the_Fae
Summary: Zarkon ordered Haggar to create him an army, so she created the Gems. But when the Diamonds were created, they decided to free Gem-kind from the Galra, no matter the cost.





	

It was in the early days of Lord Zarkon’s quest to conquer the universe that they ran into a problem, many galaxies protested his attempts to invade and actively fought back against his armies, and while the Galra are numerous, they were still outnumbered and still mortal. So, Zarkon ordered Haggar to create a solution to their insufficient numbers. The Druid did as told and created robots infused with Quintessence and Galran DNA, they were perfect for filling out Zarkon’s armies, and very expendable too.

But Zarkon did not remained pleased with Haggar’s creations, there were still only robots that followed orders without any initiative of their own, and were easier to take down than the average Galran foot soldier. He ordered Haggar to create something better, something that would follow orders obediently but think on their own, and were stronger than a Galran foot soldier.

It took Haggar many years to be able to produce anything sufficient in Zarkon’s eyes, leaving the emperor very impatient, only Haggar’s proven loyalty and position as his personal warlock keeping him from providing some ‘persuasion’ to get faster results. Haggar left behind her an ever-growing mound of dead test subjects and more than one destroyed planet in her quest to fulfil her emperor’s orders, until she finally managed to create something that satisfied Zarkon.

By harvesting natural resources from planets, reducing them to a liquid state, infusing that liquid with quintessence, and then allowing that liquid to form into gemstones, Haggar created new life. The gemstones created from the process were no ordinary gems, infused with quintessence, they were much more powerful, and were much more alive.

After Haggar created her first quintessence infused Gem, it crafted a physical body from light around it, once formed it then bowed to her and asked for orders, already knowing its purpose in existence. It was perfect.

With his new Gem army, Zarkon became even more feared, the Gems taking down opposing armies with little need for rest, and if they were hurt they could simply reform and re-join the fight, whereas the enemy could not. Haggar continued to experiment with her Gem, learning how to create different types for different purposes, but all with the same goal to conquer in the name of Zarkon.

Until Hagger, unknowingly, made a mistake with her newest Gem creations.

* * *

 

“And what will be the purpose of these ones?” Zarkon asked his loyal Druid, looking upon three gem-stones that were much bigger than any of the gemstones in his Gem army.

“These shall the strongest.” Haggar reported. “Unstoppable against enemy. And able to lead the lesser ones into battle. These are diamonds.”

Zarkon hummed as he regarded the Diamonds.

“They will lead?” He questioned.

“All under your orders, my lord.” Haggar said.

Zarkon nodded. “When will they be ready?” He asked.

“It is a simple matter of charging them with enough quintessence, they shall be much more powerful that the usual Gems and so require much more time and quintessence to form.” Haggar replied.

“See to it that they form soon, I do not want to be kept waiting.” Zarkon said, taking his leave.

“Of course, my lord.” Haggar said, turning back towards the Diamonds and fuelling them with more quintessence.

* * *

 

After many quintants, despite Haggar’s best efforts and constantly fuelling the Diamonds with Quintessence, they refused to form, and Zarkon was once again getting impatient. He had been promised powerful servants capable of leading his Gem army, but the Diamonds had yet to prove they were more than oversized pretty rocks.

“I grow tired of waiting, Haggar.” Zarkon told the Druid.

“These sort of things take time, my lord.” Haggar told him. “If I fuel them with too much quintessence the results could be disastrous.”

“I do not want to hear your excuses!” Zarkon told her. “Make these Diamonds form now, or they will be put to a different use.”

Haggar sighed in defeat. “Yes, my lord.” She said.

Haggar and her Druids took their positions around the three Diamonds and began to pump them full of quintessence, causing the Diamonds to start glowing dangerously, but Haggar pushed forward, not wanting to disappoint Zarkon. They continued to pump quintessence into the Diamonds, which continued to glow dangerously and were only getting brighter, exhausting themselves in the process, until Haggar finally called it off out of exhaustion and fear the Diamonds would explode.

“Why have you stopped?” Zarkon demanded.

Haggar was stopped from answering when two of the three Diamonds floated up into the air and glowing light form around them, taking the shape of two gigantic figures, the shapes then grew more details before the light faded to reveal two giant women who towered over Zarkon and Haggar.

The blue and yellow Gems regarded the emperor and druid before sinking to one knee with one arm across their chests.

“My lord.” They said dutifully.

Both Zarkon and Haggar missed the slight reluctance in the Diamonds’ tone, too caught up in the victory of finally creating the diamonds.

“Why hasn’t this one formed yet?” Zarkon looked at the white Diamond with distain.

“The White Diamond is the most purist and powerful of all, it will take more quintessence to coax it out, we will start again when we are reenergised.” Haggar explained.

“See to it that it forms soon, or it will be shattered and put to a different use, we have already wasted much on it.” Zarkon said.

Blue and Yellow Diamond looked at each other in alarm, worried for the fate of their fellow Diamond.

“In the meanwhile, introduce these Diamonds to the other Gems.” Zarkon said, leaving.

“Yes, my lord.” Haggar replied.

* * *

 

Yellow and Blue Diamond were shown the Gems they were to lead into the battle against the enemies of the Galra empire, towering over each Gem and Galra soldier. They frowned when they saw a Galra commander throw a Gem who had been in their way to the floor, calling them something that sounded like an insult, the Gem then got up as if nothing had happened. As they were walked around by one of the commanders, he kept calling the Gems, Diamonds included, unsavoury names, acting like they were emotionless robots, and for the other Gems that did seem to be the case, but the Diamonds could see something inside them that said they weren’t like emotionless robots. Yellow and Blue Diamond had the feeling that it was only their sheer size that stopped the Galra commander from going passed small insults and talking to them as if they were dumb.

Meanwhile, Haggar and her Druids had regained their energy and were once again pumping quintessence into White Diamond’s gem to get her to form.

“I will not let this be a failure.” Haggar grunted. “More power!” She ordered her Druids.

The Druids continued until the Diamond was glowing so bright that it hurt to look at, it then floated into the air and began to form a body around itself.

“At last.” Haggar said.

The Diamond that formed was slightly bigger than Blue and Yellow Diamond, already carrying a commanding aura despite their serine face. Unlike the other two, this Diamond only continued to look down at the Druids that created her instead of bowing down to their level, as if she was somehow above them. This, Haggar did not like.

Zarkon soon entered, having already been notified of White Diamond’s formation by one of the other Druids. Still, White Diamond did not kneel.

“On your knees before your emperor!” Haggar demanded.

White Diamond continued to look down at them.

“Are you defective? I said kneel!” Haggar shot harmful magic at the Diamond.

Finally, White Diamond dropped to one knee with a grunt of pain, crossing one arm over her chest in salute when Haggar continued the pain, only then did the Druid stop.

“Apologies, my lord.” Haggar said to Zarkon.

Zarkon said nothing, only eying the Diamond with the frown that was always on his face.

White Diamond looked back at him calculatingly.

“I apologise for my defiant actions, my lord.” She said. “I was unfamiliar with my place. It won’t happen again.”

“Make sure it doesn’t.” Zarkon said in a threatening voice. “I already have two other loyal Diamonds, I can find a different use for you, even in a shattered form.”

White Diamond nodded, but she felt no fear from the threat, only something else her newly formed mind could not yet identify.

“Take White Diamond to the others and familiarise it with its duties.” Haggar ordered one of her Druids before leaving.

“Follow me.” The Druid said, turning around and walking towards where the other Diamonds were staying.

With their back turned, the Druid didn’t see White Diamond’s frown before she started to follow.

* * *

 

With the Diamonds in control of his Gem army, the war to conquer the universe was now even easier, the Diamonds were smarter than the average Gems and could act as generals and direct the normal Gems into battle without any outside influence. And not only were the Diamonds smart, they were also strong, able to take out the strongest of warriors without even a scratch, if Zarkon were a weaker emperor who wasn’t confident in his own strength, he would have had one of the Diamonds stationed as a bodyguard. Unfortunately, they didn’t get to use that strength much because they were usually behind the lines directing the other Gems since they were the equivalent of generals to the Gem army.

Zarkon had questioned Haggar about just creating his Gem army out of Diamonds, but the Druid had unfortunately told him that the process of making a Diamond took far too many resources, time and quintessence for that to be possible. She also warned about creating too many powerful Diamonds too soon, even though Gems were created to be loyal without question.

With three different Diamonds in charge of the normal Gems, and the ever-growing number of regular Gems to command and send into battle, Zarkon eventually split the Gem army into three, with each section under the command of one Diamond. After a few ideas on how to divide up his Gem army between the Diamonds, Zarkon eventually settled on colour co-ordination, blue Gems would go to Blue Diamond, yellow Gems to Yellow Diamond and black and white Gems to White Diamond, and outside colours such as green would be split between the two colours that made it; that way, each side of the army would be equally strong. The only problem was that the red Gems had no Diamond to fall under, and were stuck being split between all three Diamonds, but Zarkon found it to be a problem easily remedied.

“You want me to create another Diamond, so soon after the others?” Haggar asked after Zarkon told her what he wanted.

“Are you questioning me, Haggar?” Zarkon said menacingly.

“No, my lord, but it will take time to create another, and more resources than we currently have.” Haggar said placatingly.

“Resources are of no matter.” Zarkon said. “A simple sacrifice of an unimportant planet. Make it happen!”

“Yes, my lord.” Haggar responded.

“And make the next Diamond red.” Zarkon added on.

Haggar wanted to say that the colour of the Diamond would be random, that asking for a specific colour would be even harder than just creating a Diamond in the first place, but she knew to keep quiet, she would simply just have to find a way.

“Red, to give the red Gems something to fall under?” She instead asked.

“Partly.” Zarkon admitted. “And if all goes well, we can add a fifth Diamond to my army, a green one.”

“Ah.” Haggar said in understanding. “To mirror Voltron?”

Zarkon didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to.

“But what of the White Diamond?” Haggar asked.

“I may be the only one to wear black in such a regard.” Zarkon said simply.

Unknown to Haggar and Zarkon, a Gem was stood outside the room, listening to the conversation inside. Once they were done speaking, the Gem rushed off without a sound to a small shuttle, taking it to a large ship where the Diamonds were stationed and White Diamond waited for them.

White Diamond was silent as she looked down at the Gem who came to her, looking down at her expectantly. The Gem gave a quick bow before relaying their info.

“Well done, my Gem.” White Diamond praised quietly.

The Gem smiled at the praise, something rare for a Gem to receive.

“Now, back to your post!” White Diamond instructed.

“Yes, my Diamond.” The Gem hurried off.

White Diamond then walked through the halls of the ship, having to stoop slightly as the creators of the ship had neglected to make the passageways in the ship big enough for her to walk properly, not so much of a problem for her slightly shorter sisters, but a pain for her, not that she would let it show on her face.

“White.” Blue and Yellow Diamond greeted her as she entered the Diamond’s planning room.

“Yellow. Blue.” White Diamond greeted in return. “It seems we should be expecting another addition to our ranks.”

Blue and Yellow Diamond looked at each other. “Another Diamond?” Yellow questioned.

White Diamond nodded. “A red one, if Zarkon gets what he wants. And he was also talking about maybe adding a green Diamond at a later time if the next one proves to be successful.”

“Why red and green?” Blue Diamond asked.

“Something about matching the colours of something called Voltron.” White Diamond said.

“Just a tick.” Yellow Diamond said, typing something into her control panel. “Here we go, Voltron.”

Yellow Diamond showed the screen to White and Blue Diamond.

“It seems to be a powerful super weapon that disappeared and Zarkon is hunting after.” White Diamond said as she read the information.

“Rumoured to be the most powerful in the universe.” Yellow Diamond added.

“No wonder Zarkon is after it.” Blue Diamond said.

White Diamond hummed. “It seems to be more than that.” She said quietly. She then shook her head. “Something to look into later. We need to plan our strategies for the next invasion. Which planet is next in the empire’s sights?”

“A set of twin planets named Varnada and Vespin.” Yellow Diamond informed.

“Then we will be in for a long battle, and most likely be at the front lines.” Blue Diamond said.

“Indeed.” White Diamond agreed. “They are planets of warriors, and have a history of fending off every other previous invasion.”

“But everything has its weakness, we just have to find it.” Blue Diamond said.

The other Diamonds nodded in agreement as they began their battle plans for each of their armies.

* * *

 

“You Gems will be heading a full-frontal assault against both planets, wearing down the enemy while we perform a sneak attack while they are preoccupied fighting you. By attacking both planets with full power at once, they won’t have time to send reinforcements to each other, it will be over in a varga.” The Galran commander named Theradin told the three Diamonds.

The Diamonds frowned back in return.

“Is something wrong?” Theradin asked with an angry look, not liking the Diamond’s behaviour.

“Your plan is what’s wrong.” White Diamond said without fear.

“Is it?” Theradin’s anger grew.

“The Voltas are recorded as being a formidable warrior race, and invaders who have tried similar tactics to this one have failed miserably. A full-frontal assault would result in too much loss and a small chance of victory. A better tactic would be-”

“Silence!” Theradin had had enough. “You are only a worthless Gem, it is not your place to question my orders! And since it will be your mindless soldiers facing the Voltas, I don’t think the loss will be that great. You’re lucky that you’re a Diamond, otherwise I would have you shattered for such insolence.”

The Diamonds remained quite while working to keep the displeasure off of their faces until Theradin left.

“How did such a mindless fool become a commander?” Yellow Diamond asked once they were alone. “Something with even a smidgen of intelligence could tell our chances of winning with this strategy are slim to none.”

“You know why he’s doing it.” Blue Diamond lamented. “To the Galra, we’re no more than expendable soldiers not worth caring about, if the plan doesn’t work then the Galra wouldn’t see it as any big loss.”

“Even though we’re meant to be commanders too, every Galra outranks us, it’s insufferable.” White Diamond said. “Still, unfortunately, we cannot go against orders without being shattered.

“Is there any way we can make this attack work without going against orders?” Blue Diamond asked.

“Other than what type of Gems we send in what order, not much.” Yellow Diamond relayed.

“Then let’s work with what we have.” White Diamond said. “When, if, this invasion fails, it won’t be because of us.”

The Diamonds then began to plan the invasion.

* * *

 

White Diamond walked across the broken remains of the battlefield that stretched across much of the planet. A Varnadan suddenly leapt from where they’d been lying on the ground, aiming for her with a large sword, but they were swiftly knocked away and didn’t get back up.

Around White Diamond, her remaining soldiers combed through the battle field.

By some miracle, the attack had worked and the previously unbeatable twin planets fell. Technically, the war was still waging on Vespin, but with Varnada overtaken, it was only a matter of time before Yellow Diamond and the Galra soldiers squashed the remaining resistance. But, the victory hadn’t come without its cost.

It was only thanks to the planning of the Diamond that the invasion worked at all, but since they were only Gems and Galra word was valued over theirs, Theradin managed to claim all of the glory of the victory for himself. Meanwhile, the surviving Gems were relegated back to the battlefields to gather up their fallen breatharian, surviving Gems were taken back to the main Gem ship until they managed to reform, while the shards of shattered Gems were gathered up to be taken to the Druids to see if they could be put to any use. It came as no surprise to White Diamond that there were more shattered Gems than surviving Gems.

“So many lost.” Blue Diamond lamented as she walked over.

“A loss that could have been avoided if the Galra bothered to listen to us.” White Diamond said.

The two Diamonds were silent for a moment, the silence occasionally being filled with the happy cries of their followers when they managed to find an un-shattered Gem amidst the Gem shards and Varnadan bodies, the Diamonds found that it didn’t come often enough.

“How many?” Blue finally asked.

“Too many.” White Diamond answered. “We won’t know until we’ve searched the entire battle field, but I can already tell that it’s more than half.”

“Our fates mean so little to them.” Blue said sadly.

White Diamond said nothing, continuing to look out at the battlefield and her remaining Gems with an unreadable look.

* * *

 

“What is this, Haggar?” Zarkon demanded as he looked at Haggar’s work.

In front of them lay a pool of liquid crystal, which all Gem came from before they were infused with quintessence in order to form.

“The uncompleted form for your newest Diamond, my lord.” Haggar answered, making sure to keep a respectful tone.

“I know that!” Zarkon growled. “Why is it not what I requested.”

Haggar looked at her creation-in-progress to work out what Zarkon meant, when she realised the reason. Zarkon had told her that he wanted the next Diamond to be red, but that wasn’t the colour of the liquid crystal in front of them.

“Apologies, my lord.” Haggar said. “I tried to control the colour, but this was the result, but there is still time to correct it before it takes shape.”

“See to it that it does.” Zarkon growled. “If it does, scrap it and try again, I will not have my next Diamond be pink.”

“Of course.” Haggar agreed.

Outside the room, a Gem was once again listening in on their conversation, their eyes widening when they heard what was happening with their newest Diamond. They quickly hurried off to tell their Diamond, not noticing the eyes watching them with a frown.

The Gem quickly made their way to the Diamonds to report their findings.

“He’s seriously considering wasting everything just because the Diamond isn’t the colour he wanted?” Yellow Diamond asked once the Gem told them what they had heard.

“A defective Gem may not have the proper specifications needed.” Blue Diamond reasoned.

“But a defective Gem can also still have a use, even if it’s not their intended one.” Yellow Diamond countered.

“But you forget, the Galra hold little care for us.” White Diamond said.

White Diamond’s communicator then when off.

“White Diamond, I want you and the other Diamonds over here, right now.” Zarkon ordered through the communicator.

“Of course, my lord.” White Diamond said as respectively as she could manage.

Once the communicator turned off, she turned to her sisters.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Blue Diamond said.

The three Diamonds journeyed to the main ship and entered Zarkon’s throne room, where the Galra himself sat on his throne, looking down at them. The three Diamonds kneeled and saluted, managing to hide their reluctance.

“It was by my order that you and your kind were brought into existence.” Zarkon said to them. “And it was by Haggar’s magic that you were given life. Your purpose is to be the perfect soldiers for the Galra empire, to be able to think but still follow orders without hesitation or question.”

The Diamonds kept their faces blank, but on the inside, they knew what Zarkon was saying was leading somewhere bad.

“And yet,” Zarkon continued. “One of your Gems has been found spying on myself and Haggar.”

On cue, a Galra entered with the Gem White Diamond used to spy of Zarkon held in its grasp.

“Explain.” Zarkon growled.

Blue and Yellow Diamond discretely looked to White Diamond for guidance, and the Gem in the grasp of the Galra looked desperately to their Diamond to save them.

White Diamond contemplated her decisions, weighing different variables and the outcomes, searching for answer that would save them from Zarkon’s wrath.

“We were unaware one of our Gems was going beyond orders, my lord.” White Diamond pled ignorance. “We would never betray you.”

The Gem looked shocked at White Diamond’s answer.

Blue and Yellow Diamond looked slightly shocked as well, but they quickly accepted the decision.

“If it was not there by your order, then why was it there?” Zarkon demanded.

“Perhaps it misunderstood an order to protect its emperor.” Yellow Diamond suggested in a small attempt to spare the Gem.

The Gem nodded frantically in agreement.

“My lord.” A Galra said respectfully. “The Gem did not seem like it was merely guarding, it stood outside lady Haggar’s doors and then hurried away not long before you left the room.”

The Diamonds were caught there.

“Maybe the Gem is a spy, but if it is, then it is not under our orders.” White Diamond suggested, thinking quickly. “Like you have said, my lord, we have been created to be loyal to the Galra. It could be possible that a high enough ranking Galra ordered the Gem to spy for them, and they could not say no as we serve the Galra.”

“Is this true?” Zarkon looked at the Gem being held prisoner.

“I…” The Gem looked at their Diamond, then hung its head. “Yes.” They lied. “A Galran commander ordered me to report on secrets and to tell no one but them.”

“Who?” Zarkon demanded.

The Gem looked to the Diamonds but saw no guidance from them, meaning it was up to them. They held no illusions, no matter what they said, they would be shattered for daring to spy on the emperor. But, if they were going down, then they’d take someone with them, someone who deserved it for what they did to their fellow Gems.

“Commander Theradin, my lord.” The Gem said.

The Diamonds had to fight not to smirk.

“Bring me Theradin, and bring the traitor alive, I want his pain to last.” Zarkon ordered.

Some Galra bowed and left.

“As for you.” Zarkon said to the Gem. “You know the price for betraying your emperor.”

“Yes, my lord.” The Gem did their best to hide their fear.

Zarkon stood and picked up the Gem without any effort, chucking them over to where the Diamonds still kneeled.

“Shatter it!” Zarkon ordered them.

Blue and Yellow Diamond clenched their fists tightly, all three Diamonds ducking their heads to stop everyone from seeing the hate in their eyes.

“Yes, my lord.” White Diamond forced out.

White Diamond stood, picking up the Gem in their large hands.

“Thank you for your sacrifice, I am proud of you.” White Diamond managed to say quietly.

The Gem gave their Diamond an understanding smile, but there was still fear behind it.

White Diamond squeezed their grip and the Gem lost its physical form, and with a slight hesitance, she squeezed harder, reducing the Gem to shards. Blue and Yellow Diamond averted their eyes in respect, while White Diamond forced herself to watch.

“It is done.” White Diamond said emotionally.

“Good.” Zarkon said as he resumed his place on his throne. “Return to your posts, I will deal with this traitor personally. We will then discuss your punishments for letting one of your Gems be used against me.”

“Yes, my lord.” The Diamonds said together.

They stood up and left the room.

* * *

 

“I can’t stand this anymore.” Blue Diamond said once they were alone. “Being subservient to such creatures.”

“I agree, they may have created us, but they shouldn’t control us any longer.” Yellow Diamond said.

White Diamond stared at her hand, the very one she had shattered the Gem with.

“Zarkon has gone too far.” She said in agreement. “It’s only a matter of time before he realises that we have our own minds and orders us shattered, and when that happens, we shall be far away.”

Yellow Diamond looked at White Diamond. “Are you suggesting running?” She asked.

“You make it sound cowardly. But yes, it is the only way for us to be free.” White Diamond replied.

“Even if we are just Gems to him, Zarkon won’t be happy when ‘his’ Diamonds disappear.” Blue Diamond said.

“Oh, it won’t be just us.” White Diamond promised. “All of us shall be liberated, every Gem shall be freed from our slavery to the Galra.”

“But…how could we even do that?” Blue Diamond asked. “The Galra would be on us before the next solar system. We may be strong, but they are many.”

“It’s a simple matter of planning.” White Diamond said.

Yellow Diamond hummed. “It may take a while to coordinate all of them Gems without arousing suspicion, but if we manage to do it right, we could be gone before they even realise.” She said.

“Even if we do manage to outrun them and hide, they’ll still come after us, and with the state of our armies right now, we won’t be able to fend them off.” Blue Diamond said. “If we’re going to leave, we need to make sure we can protect ourselves for when they come for us.”

“I agree.” White Diamond said. “And I may have an answer for that. Before their…shattering, my spy managed to find out that Haggar is perfecting a way to create Gems without the need for Druids.”

The other Diamonds quickly caught on.

“And we can use that to create more Gems for our armies.” Yellow Diamond said.

White Diamond nodded. “But we must work quickly, I loath to think what our punishment will be, and Zarkon may find out that Theradin didn’t betray him.”

Blue and Yellow Diamond nodded. All three Diamonds gathered some of their followers and began to plan.

* * *

 

After a few Vargas, the Diamonds put their plan into motion. As much as they didn’t want to, they had to rely on the Gems under their control to carry out most of the plan while they prepared everything on their ship, their powerful and large forms were not suitable for sneaking around. The only one who went with her Gems was Blue Diamond, because there were some things that the regular Gems would be unable to do.

Some Gems were on distraction duty, leading any Galra away from the other Gems doing things that would certainly get them shattered.

A few Gems made their way to the surveillance room of the ship, sneaking in and subduing the Galra at his post without being seen, one of them then sat down at the chair and began messing with the footage. They replaced the live feed with some previously recorded footage, so that anyone looking back over the footage would see everything normal on the ship, and even when the Gems were running down the hallways, the cameras would show them to be empty except for the normal patrols.

Two Gems went to the communication room and began sending out a message, in the message it ordered every Gem to report to the main Gem command ship under the order of the Galra. In terms of messaging the Gem army, it was pointless because every Gem had already been contacted by and filled in on the plan by the Diamonds, but by using the communications room they were making it seem like a Galra had ordered every Gem to be in one place. One Gem kept look out while another left the fake message.

A set of stronger Gems made their way into the weapon storage and began looking through the different weapons that had been created.

“Look at this stuff, you could do a lot of damage with this.” One of the Gems said, picking up a large blaster. “How come we never got this stuff.”

“We need to focus.” Another Gem told them. “Uh, what are we looking for again?”

“Something that makes a really big boom.” Said another.

The Gem continued to search until one of them across a big device.

“Hey, I think this is the thing from the picture!” The shouted to the others.

One of the other Gems came over and wacked them on the head for being so loud. Thankfully, none of the Galra had heard.

“Let’s just get this back to the Diamonds.” The Gem said.

All but one of the Gems grabbed a part of the device and picked it up while the remaining Gem guided them through the hallways without being seen.

Meanwhile, Blue Diamond and some of her Gems were breaking into the room where Haggar did her experiments.

“And…got it.” A smaller Gem said as she hacked the lock on the door, opening it.

The Gems went inside, Blue Diamond stooping low to get through the door.

“Find all the information you can on us and take it.” Blue Diamond ordered her followers. “Leave nothing behind, not even the shards.”

The Gems nodded.

As her Gems got to work, Blue Diamond found and looked over the information about the none-Druid method of creating Gems, according to the information, it would still be a tricky process, but it would make Gems at a faster rate without having to mine a planet for its resources, because the Gem would drain them itself as it formed.

“Very useful.” Blue Diamond commented.

Blue Diamond then took notice of the liquified crystal in a tank, still pink in colour, she knew enough about the Gem creating process to know that it was ready to form into a Diamond. But with Zarkon wanting the colour to be red, it would never reach that stage if left there. So, Blue Diamond gently disconnected the container from the foundations and held it in her hands.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let them destroy you before you can live.” Blue Diamond told the future Diamond.

With everything they needed in hand, the Gems left the room, locking it behind them. They met the Gems carrying the device and the Gems coming back from the communications room on the way back to the shuttle that would take them to the main Gem ship. Once everything was loaded onto the shuttle, the remaining Gems were recalled from surveillance and they all left.

Once they got back to the main ship, what had been stolen from Haggar was immediately loaded onto another ship that was bigger than the shuttle, but still small enough to fit inside the hanger of the main ship, many Gems were also gathered around said ship. The large device was carried into the depths of the main Gem ship, the Gems returning without it and joining their fellow Gems around the other ship.

“You took it?” Yellow Diamond asked when she took notice of the liquid crystal Blue Diamond held.

“We agreed that nothing of us was to be left. And…she could still possibly form, if what the files said was true.” Blue Diamond said.

White Diamond nodded in agreement. “She deserves to exist.”

Blue Diamond gave the container to a few of the stronger Gems, ordering them to load it onto the ship.

“Is everything done?” White Diamond asked.

“The fake message has been send, everything has been rescued from the Galra, the bomb has been planted, decoys are in place, and all our Gems are present and accounted for.” Yellow Diamond reported. “All that’s left is to load onto the ship.”

“And gain our freedom.” Blue Diamond added with a smile.

The Gems began to trail into the ship in a line, soon, the Diamonds followed them in. Inside, some of the tougher Gems were standing at the front of each line of Gems, they then pulled back their weapons and struck the Gem at the front of their lines, causing their physical form to disappear, the Gem was then caught and placed in one of the glowing compartments attached to the wall.

It was brutal to have their Gems line up to have their physical forms destroyed, but there simply wasn’t enough room in their single ship to store every single Gem in their projected forms, so they had to be reduced to more manageable sizes. Soon, all but a small collection of their Gems had been reduced down to just them gems and stored away in the ship, leaving only the Diamonds and a few Gems to help pilot and look after the ship.

“This is finally it.” White Diamond said. “Engage cloaking and open the bay doors.”

If the Gems were organic beings, they may have felt a fluttering in their stomachs as the bay doors opened.

The ship flew out of the bay doors and away from the ship, the cloaking on the ship held steady.

“Okay.” White Diamond said once she was satisfied they were far enough away from the main Gem ship. “Detonate the bomb!”

With no small amount of glee on her face, Yellow Diamond pressed a button on her screen. Behind them, the main Gem ship exploded as their smaller ship continued on to places unknown.

* * *

 

Many quintants had passed since the Gems had escaped the Galra and they had yet to stop the ship. A point of which the Diamonds were arguing about.

“We can’t just spend out entire existences on this ship, we need to find some place to call our own.” Yellow Diamond said.

“But the Galra have no doubt discovered that we weren’t blown up and are on our tail as we speak. We know that they will come after us, to reclaim us or destroy us. We need to keep going.” Blue Diamond argued.

“So, what, we just keep running?” Yellow Diamond questioned. “You’re right in that they’re after us, but even if we do run, they’ll catch up eventually. We need to be ready.”

“But what if we don’t have enough time to be ready, even with the new method of creating Gems, they will take time to form.” Blue Diamond pointed out.

Yellow Diamond sighed, she could see her fellow Diamond’s side of the argument, but she couldn’t give up her side of the argument either.

“White,” Yellow Diamond looked to the largest Diamond. “You’ve yet to say a word. What do you believe we should do?”

White Diamond looked thoughtful. “Blue is right in that it’s dangerous to stop, we don’t know how long it will take for the Galra to find us, or just what they’ll do when they do.” She said. “But, we didn’t gain our freedom just to waste it running, with most of us not even aware of that freedom.”

The Diamonds looked to where most of their Gems were being kept dormant.

White Diamond looked at her star-maps.

“We are in part of the universe not yet touched by the Galra, and it will take a while for the Galra to set their sights on it as well. And we left behind no trace of ourselves to be tracked.” She said. “So, if we create a home on a nearby planet, we may have enough time to build an army before we are found.”

“But what if they can track us in some way?” Blue Diamond asked.

“That is a risk we’ll just have to take.” White Diamond said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Besides, someone needs a chance to form.”

The Diamonds looked over to the container of pink liquid crystal.

Blue Diamond sighed but nodded in agreement.

“Which planet do you have in mind?” She asked.

White Diamond brought up an image of a collection of planets rotating around a huge star, the solar system they were currently heading to.

“This one.” White Diamond brought focused to the largest planet in the system. “It shall be the main planet, but some of the smaller planets are also capable of supporting our kind once we can start expanding.

The ship eventually entered the solar system and made its way to the largest planet, setting down on the surface. The Diamonds stepped out as soon as the doors opened, leaving the Gems awake on the ship to start removing their fellow Gems from their containments and bring them out onto the planet to form.

“It’s beautiful.” Blue Diamond said, looking out across the surface.

“Perfect even.” Yellow Diamond added.

“That it is.” White Diamond agreed.

Around the Diamonds, many of the Gems began to reform, looking out upon the new world in wonder.

“Our first order of business.” White Diamond addressed her awake troops. “Is to create a base of command.”

“Yes, my Diamond.” The Gems said.

The Gems then spread out, scouring the land for materials to create the base with, the Gems were thankfully made with powers to help with the endeavour.

As they worked, Blue Diamond returned to inside the ship and brought out the container of liquid crystal.

“You think we should start her formation now?” Yellow Diamond asked when she saw what Blue Diamond carried.

“I was thinking it would be symbolic, the first Gem born of this world will be a Diamond, implanted on the quintant we arrived on this planet.” Blue Diamond explained.

“I think it’s fitting.” White Diamond agreed after a moment.

The Diamonds had memorised the new Gem creating process Haggar had devised, so they knew what they needed to do with the liquid crystal. They gathered in a circle and with one powerful stike, a hole was created.

“Until the injectors can be created, this will have to do.” White Diamond said.

With careful hands, the liquid crystal was removed from the container and placed into the hole created, the hole was then covered up.

“We should give it something, just to be sure.” Yellow Diamond suggested.

The other Diamonds nodded and they all placed their hands over the mound of dirt covering the hole, they concentrated, their hands briefly glowing, the glow then sank down into the mount of dirt, to the developing Pink Diamond.

“It is done.” White Diamond said. “Now we can only wait.”

“But, the time won’t be spent just waiting.” Yellow Diamond said.

“Indeed not.” White Diamond agreed.

The Diamonds looked over to where their base was already taking shape, the Gems working tirelessly.

* * *

 

Over time, the base was build, along with other structures, and the Gem’s new planet was named Homeworld. The Diamonds quickly learned how to create the liquid crystal without the need for Druids, which could be injected into the ground, it would then draw the quintessence from the ground around it to form.

Once the needed structures had been completed and some technology created, the Diamonds started to inject future Gems into the ground, who would eventually pop out on their own, growing their army for the day the Galra finally caught up with them.

Despite Blue Diamond’s hopes, Pink Diamond was not the first Gem to pop out of the ground, in fact, many Gems popped out before her. Pink Diamond’s spot, situated at the heart of the Gem base, remained without a hole.

“She is to be a Diamond.” White Diamond had reasoned. “It stands to reason that she will take a long time.”

“I just hope she forms before the Galra find us.” Yellow Diamond said.

“Yes, it’s only right that she’ll get to fight beside us.” Blue Diamond said.

Yellow Diamond had actually meant that another Diamond would strengthen their forces, but Blue Diamond was close enough that she decided not to mention it.

Pink Diamond’s arrival eventually came with a huge bang and the shaking of the ground for miles around. Every Gem quickly rushed to the source of the disturbance, dust hanging so heavily in the air that it was almost impossible to see. If they had lungs, the Gems would have been coughing uncontrollably from the dust, but they still waved their hands in front of their faces in an attempt to clear the dust away from them.

“Is that…” Yellow Diamond broke off as they began to see a figure through the dust.

The figure was huge, just like the Diamonds.

“Yes.” White Diamond said.

Pink Diamond stepped out of the dust, standing above her subjects with a blank expression. The Gems quickly knelt before their newest Diamond. Slowly, a smile came to her face and she looked down at them with a kind expression.

“Rise.” She told them, her voice gentle.

Pink Diamond continued to walk forward until she reached her fellow Diamonds. Though she was large, she was smaller than Blue and Yellow Diamond.

“I believe that now I have formed, it is time to expand past this planet.” Pink Diamond told them, smiling.

The other Diamonds gave small smiles back.

“Yes, I believe it is.” White Diamond responded.

* * *

 

**(Prologue)**

The Galra did eventually come. The Gems had expanded their colonies to many planets, some treated them with indifference and some were wary because of their time under the Galra, and news of the new prosperity of their race eventually reach the Galra, who set a course for Homeworld.

But Homeworld was ready, they had far more Gems in their army than when they had left the Galra, and had had time to experiment and create new kinds of Gems with different capabilities. The Gems and the Galra went to war, one side desperate to maintain freedom, and the other desperate to wipe out the mistake of the empire. Both side were strong, neither giving any leeway, and neither willing to give up, not caring what had to be done to succeed.

And the rest of the universe suffered for it.

As they ran out of resources and drained the quintessence of the current planets they occupied, the Gems moved onto new planets to create more Gems and expand their own territory against the Galra, eventually not caring if the planets they took were already occupied of not. And the Galra, they already took without mercy anyway, but with the war against the Gems, they took at a much faster rate.

And the war never came to an end, raging on for millennium, with no forcible end in sight.

In the end, in fighting for their freedom, in escaping the control of the Galra, the universe came to see the Gem race as just as bad as the Galra. Destroying and their civilisations for their own gain.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was born out of two Steven Universe theories, one being that the Gem race as a whole was artificially created and the other is that Homeworld is fighting in a war which is the reason for their resource shortage. When I thought about making a Voltron crossover, I thought about how the Gems would probably fight against the Galra for control, which got me thinking about how the Galra would also fit into being the creators of the Gems.  
> I hope that other writers could use this story as a jumping-off for other Steven Universe/Voltron crossovers, since I’ve written all the backstory, they can write what happens next, like how Gems existing could affect the events of Voltron.


End file.
